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- FTSE 100 climbs 20 points to 8,435
- Deliveroo jumps after revealing possible offer
- Entain reports profitable start to year for US JV
4.16pm: Modest gains for FTSE, and Spain’s IBEX
The FTSE 100 is heading towards another modest gain on Monday, continuing the trend of the past week for small but steady progress towards levels last seen before US tariffs were unveiled.
London’s blue-chip index is up 0.2%, while the more domestically focused mid-cap index, the FTSE 250, has gained 0.7%.
Elsewhere in Europe, Spain’s IBEX 35 benchmark is also up around 0.7% despite the massive blackout across the country.
One affected company in London and Madrid is International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG), owner of British Airways and Iberia. Its shares are down 0.8%.
There are reports that 399 British flights could be affected, with that number scheduled to depart from UK airports heading for Spain, with the number rising to 500 if Portugal is included.
Across Europe, a total of 3,005 departures and arrivals were scheduled for Spanish airports today.
3.42pm: US manufacturers did not enjoy April’s tariff uncertainty
US manufacturing data is in and it is very much in the Not Good column.
The Dallas Fed manufacturing index for April came in at -35.8, down from -16.3 and well below the -17 consensus forecast.
It was the lowest reading since May 2020.
In the comments section from survey respondents, one in the computer and electronic product manufacturing sector said: “There is really no way to predict anything accurately six months out or even six weeks out now for our industry due to the tariff and trade uncertainty… If this continues for any length of time, many small companies are likely to be significantly hurt or even gone. If we want to bring manufacturing back to the US, can we try not to kill the companies that can actually help do that before we get the chance?
“Maybe we can think about using a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer? The risk we face now is far greater and less understood than what we saw during the COVID shutdown. Consumers and businesses will limit investment and orders until there is some sense of stability, and we have already experienced this with smaller orders and delayed orders. It’s chaos right now.”
The dollar is not a good way after that, down 0.8% versus the pound at 1.3412 and 0.3% against the euro, with the DXY dollar index down 0.25%.
US stocks are settling though, with the Dow Jones up 0.5%, the S&P rising 0.2% and the Nadaq just below flat.
2.49pm: US stocks open higher
Wall Street has started week in a generally sunny mood too, with gains for the likes of Boeing and Visa offsetting small declines for Nvidia and Microsoft.
The Dow Jones is leading the gains in early trading, up 0.7%, followed by the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both advancing 0.5%.
Boeing is up as it has agreed a deal with Airbus to carve up Spirit AeroSystems, the struggling supplier that Boeing agreed last year to buy back last year, two decades after it was spun out.
Back in Europe, the FTSE 100 is up 0.25%, put in the shade by the FTSE 250’s 1% gain.
Across on the Continent, the DAX is up 0.8% in Frankfurt and the CAC 40 has added over 1% in Paris, with the pan-European STOXX 600 is up 0.7%.
Spain’s IBEX is up 0.7% despite a massive power cut across the Iberian peninsula, with airports, stations and even roads grinding to a halt as no electricity flows to ground monitoring systems, signal boxed and traffic lights.
The EU’s cybersecurity arm suggested a technical or cable fault is responsible for the mass power outage, which has also hit parts of France and Portugal.
A cybersecurity attack was one suggested reason.
Top of the Eurostoxx leaderboard is bookmaker Entain, up 9.4% after an update from its US joint venture BetMGM that showed a strong and profitable start to the year.
Pharma pair Siegfried and Merck are next, along with Italian bank Banca Generali.
1.38pm: M&S orders suspended for a 4th day
Marks and Spencer has extended the suspension of digital orders for a fourth day due to problems sparked by a cyber attack last week.
Customers of the chain using the website and app have been left unable to make online orders for a fourth day on Monday, 28 April.
The Telegraph is reporting that a ransomware attack is to blame.
M&S shares are down 2%.
12.10pm: FTSE flattens
As the clock ticks past midday, the FTSE’s gains have been wound back to single digits, while on Continental Europe, the DAX is up 0.5% and the CAC 0.6%.
Now, more than half of the top 15 stocks are in the red, compared to a quarter earlier.
M&S has also extended its slide to 2.4% today, down over 8% over the past week as it struggles with cyber issues.
Insurer Beazley, engineer Weir, Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered and RELX are next.
US futures are off their worst, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 are both still down 0.3%, with Dow Jones futures down 0.2%.
11.31am: US trade war news – talks won’t be simple update #217
Some trade news, from Japan’s main trade negotiator with Washington, in another example of how trade talks will not be as simple as Donald Trump often makes out.
Economy minister Akazawa says: “There is no change to our stance, we are demanding full removal of US tariffs.”
“We are not thinking about sacrificing agricultural products for the sake of autos in tariff negotiations.”
Akazawa says the Japan trade party will travel to the US capital between Wednesday and Friday, April 30 and May 2.
Over the weekend, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said he was not aware of a call between the US President and his Chinese counterpart, to which President Trump had alluded.
China issued a similar rebuttal of such a call earlier today too.
As President Trump approaches 100 days in office, the S&P 500 is down by 7.9% since the inauguration on 20 January, with only Richard Nixon’s second term seeing a tougher first three months for investors.
But the 11% rally in the index from its closing low on 8 April “may just stop his second term in office from offering investors the worst start of any post-war American leader, in terms of stock market returns,” says AJ Bell’s Russ Mould.
Trump paddling back on his initial ‘reciprocal’ tariffs has offered some hope for stock markets, “although to what degree this is based upon hopes for trade deals between America and other nations that may or may not appear remains to be seen”, says Mould.
11.10am: Retail sales poor in April, but not as poor as they were in March
The CBI’s latest distributive trades survey – ie retail sector – found that annual sales volumes fell more slowly in April, decelarating from March’s sharp drop.
However, retailers remain pessimistic about the outlook and expect sales to contract at a faster pace in May.
For the time of year, retail sales were judged to be “poor” in April, but to a slightly lesser extent than in March. Next month’s sales are set to fall short of seasonal norms to a greater degree.
10.16am: Berkeley upgraded
Berkeley Group Holdings PLC (LSE:BKG) shares have been lifted by an upgrade to ‘buy’ from UBS, which sees the blue-chip housebuilder’s valuation now as “more compelling”.
Analyst Marcus Cole says Berkeley offers “high short-term earnings visibility”, sector-leading returns and “an underappreciated opportunity to generate value” from its build-to-rent portfolio.
With the shares are down 14% over the last year and now trade at 1.1 times TNAV – versus a long-term average of 1.5x – “we think this offers protection in the short-term especially given high earnings visibility (£975m minimum PBT guide over FY25/26) and discounts a too bearish scenario”.
9.59am: Deliveroo bid battle predicted
Deliveroo’s possible £2.7 billion offer from New York-listed Doordash, priced at 180p, “is by no means a knockout valuation”, says analyst Sean Kealy at Panmure Liberum.
Therefore, he sees “potential for Deliveroo to receive a counterbid”, especially as the Deliveroo deal, if executed effectively, “could be a kingmaker asset for Doordash in the UK and Europe”.
Or as Nick Bubb puts it in his daily morning email: “investors in Deliveroo are very unlikely to see the shares get back to the IPO price of 390p, but the 180p indicative offer from DoorDash is surely only the beginning of a bid battle”.
The indicative price is less than half the 390p price at which Deliveroo completed its IPO in 2021 and so does nothing to shake off the ‘Floperoo’ tag, says Susannah Streeter at Hargreaves Lansdown.
The deal will be “unappetising for the government”, Streeter adds, as it would join a stream of companies leaving the London Stock Exchange, with too few IPOs in the pipeline to make up the numbers.
“Even despite the recent volatility hitting Wall Street London, firms have not been immune and UK-listed companies are still undervalued compared to US peers,” she says.
9.37am: Oil price up on US-China trade hopes
The FTSE is being helped higher by small gains for a lot of big companies, including BP PLC (LSE:BP.) and Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL), whose shares have edged higher in early trading as oil prices rebounded after a mildly schizophrenic week.
Brent crude for May delivery rose above $67 a barrel, making for a 2% rise since Friday’s open.
Traders are effectively betting on progress in US-China trade talks and China’s efforts that boost its economy, and by extension, increase demand for crude.
However, reports from China suggest no talks have taken place.
Russia, meanwhile, and Ukraine have been talking about talks too.
International recognition of occupied areas is “necessary” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says.
Ukraine is ready to move as quickly as possible in diplomacy, but it is the US that can take the most tangible steps for Russia towards peace, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following the chat he had with President Trump at the Pope’s funeral at the weekend.
“No, if the ball pitches outside leg, it can not be LBW” pic.twitter.com/YKWaEcXfcT
— Sank (@CricketIsSimple) April 26, 2025
8.52am: Royal Mail acceptance level remain low
The unconditional date for the takeover of Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services PLC (LSE:IDS) is rapidly approaching – this Wednesday 30 April, in fact.
It requires 75% of shares to accept, though the acceptance level for the recommended cash offer by Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group bidco to acquire IDS has “barely risen”, points out analyst Alexander Paterson at Peel Hunt.
Acceptance was 41.48% as of 25 April, up from 41.41% on 24 April.
Paterson says he believes the offer “represents excellent value for shareholders” and encourages them to accept.
8.34am: Dividends down
UK company dividends fell 4.6% to £14 billion in the first quarter of the year due to reduced special dividends and cuts from three companies (Vodafone, Burberry and Bellway), with the underlying fall just 0.2%.
This is according to Computershare’s latest dividend monitor report, which sees positive signs for the second quarter, though renewed strength in the pound against the dollar potentially depressing headline dividend growth for 2025 as a whole.
Median per share dividend growth was 3.3% in Q1, with 82% of companies increasing their dividends or holding them steady year-on-year.
For Q2, the report said banks and food retailers could be the key contributors and the forecast for underlying growth during 2025 has been revised up from 1.0% to 1.8% on a constant currency basis.
However, headline dividend growth is predicted to be zero (down from 0.7%), resulting in total payouts (including one-off special dividends) as the effect of a stronger pound reduces the sterling value of dividends declared in dollars.
8.12am: FTSE starts week on the up
The FTSE 100 is awake and has bounced out of bed, up 40 points or 0.5% to 8,448.
Aerospace supplier Melrose Industries PLC (LSE:MRO, OTC:MLSPF), Ladbrokes owner Entain PLC (LSE:ENT) and drinks maker Diageo PLC (LSE:DGE) – all businesses that have been more volatile during the market’s Trump-slump – are the top early risers.
Housebuilders are too, including Berkely and Taylor Wimpey, amid reports of a new price war breaking out among lenders, sending mortgage rates below 4%.
Deutsche Bank, in a note this morning, said the UK housebuilding sector has performed well during the recent market turmoil, with “the biggest driver of this in our opinion is moderating forward rate expectations and the domestic nature of the sector”.
Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS) is down 1% as investors calculate the effect of its cyber attack on lost online orders.
The retailer had to pause orders on its website and apps on Friday as it attempted to restore operations.
“As part of our proactive management of a cyber incident, we have made the decision to pause taking orders via our M&S.com websites and apps. Our product range remains available to browse online. We are truly sorry for this inconvenience. Our stores are open to welcome customers.”
On the FTSE 250, Deliveroo PLC (LSE:ROO) is up 16% after revealing an indicative offer from Doorsash after markets closed last Friday.
8am: Cautious optimism
“Cautious optimism” is the mood hovering around European markets, despite the uncertainty surrounding US trade policy the effect on the global economy, says Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
She notes that President Trump is preparing to rally his ‘maga faithful’ this week as he celebrates his 100 days in office in his second term.
“He’s already presided over an equity market meltdown, a mega bond strop out, and a sharp slide in the dollar. He’s picked trade fights with long-time allies, slapped irrational duties on unpopulated islands, and ratcheted up an economic war with China.
“He’s stemmed the financial market mayhem only by pausing much of his hugely contentious trade tariffs but despite recovering somewhat valuations on Wall Street have still been hammered as investors have fled from American assets amid the turmoil.”
With the MSCI USA index losing 11% this year compared to the MSCI All World ex-USA index’s 4% climb is the widest gap for three decades, Streeter says.
“It’s not surprising that glass-half-empty attitudes are set to return to Wall Street at the start of the week,” she adds, with S&P 500 futures now indicating a fall.
“Even though work on multiple bilateral trade deals is continuing and some rapprochement between China and the US is expected, high uncertainty remains. Given the capricious nature of Trump’s policymaking and his determination to spark a renaissance in American manufacturing it seems highly likely that tariffs are here to stay.”
7.55am: Plus500 ups outlook
Plus500 Ltd (LSE:PLUS) said it has made “an excellent start to the year” and now expects full-year results to be ahead of current market expectations.
It grew revenue 13% to $205.8 million in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the final three months of last year, but down 5% on a year ago, with EBITDA rising 23% to $93.8 million quarter on quarter, but down 9% year on year.
CEO David Zruia hailed “strategic progress across several important pillars of growth”, including the futures business expanding via the recent acquisition of Mehta Equities in India, “which will enable us to deliver valuable synergies with our US futures business as we continue to establish our global futures offering”.
7.32am: Deliveroo pauses buyback as it engages in takeover talks
Deliveroo PLC (LSE:ROO) is suspending its share buyback programme after receiving a possible £2.7 billion takeover bid from New York-listed DoorDash, which it revealed after markets closed on Friday.
DoorDash made a possible cash offer of 180p per share, which the board said it would be minded to recommend to shareholders if a firm offer was made.
As such, today it has suspended its £100 million buyback programme with immediate effect.
The UK company has agreed to takeover talks and to provide access to its books for the US suitor.
7.16am: FTSE 100 set for sunny start to week
The FTSE 100 is set for a sunny start to the week as the UK is treated to an early dose of summer weather, with no new grey clouds emerging from Donald Trump over the weekend.
London’s blue-chip index has been tipped to make a modestly positive start, up 10 points, to continue its gradual return to where it was before the US president unleashed his new tariff regime at the start of the month, before spending the past week rowing back slightly.
Markets finished last week on the front foot, concluded by gains on Wall Street, and sentiment is less volatile as we wrap up the last few days of April and move into May towards the back end of this week.
Asian markets are mixed this morning, with Japan’s and India’s benchmarks positive but the Hang Seng flat.
“Market mood improved last week as US President Donald Trump eased pressure on Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell, announced some progress with trading partners including Japan and India, and said that the triple-digit import taxes on Chinese products will probably be ‘substantially’ revised lower,” is the summary from market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya at Swissquote Bank.
“And happily, we heard no major bombs from Trump or his administration over the weekend. It could hardly get better than this, given the situation. So, the week starts with some optimism.”
She notes that the US S&P 500 benchmark posted its second-best week of 2025 last week.
“The meagre flow of bad headlines over the weekend is encouraging, but US futures are pointing to a soft start to a week full of earnings. This week, oil giants and four of the Magnificent 7 companies will report their earnings, and their results could potentially throw a floor under the Trump-led selloff – if Trump doesn’t spoil the market mood.”
Announcements due on Monday 28 April:
Finals: Elixirr International, Frenkel Topping Group, Mpac Group
AGM: Celsius Resources, Solvonis Therapeutics, Team Internet Group
Economic announcements: CBI Distributive Trades (UK)
